The present disclosure presents a control system for mine ventilation doors, and particularly, a system and method for controlling the operations of opposing wing mine ventilation doors in high and low pressure environments.
Prior to the introduction of automated mine doors, mine operators used “snappers” to open and close doors on the haulage road, so that the motorman would not have to stop. The snapper would open the door, wait for the last car to pass, close the door and then run to get back on the train/tram for the remainder of the trip. In practice, however, often times the motorman would not stop, he would only slow down so that snapper could run ahead of the locomotive and open door. This practice proved unsafe for the miners, the motorman, and detrimental to both the locomotive and the doors.
The advent of machine-assisted mine doors helped alleviate some of the dangers; however such doors still required manual engagement of the machines to open and close the doors. Furthermore, the pressures being exerted on these doors also increased, as ventilation became more effective and powerful due to increases in operating temperatures, depths, mine size, etc. As mines reach greater depths, the size of the doors must increase to accommodate larger and larger equipment, i.e., the easily accessible minerals have already been retrieved, leaving the harder to access deposits farther underground. The increase in size has led accordingly to increases in the power, both applied and consumed, in opening and closing these doors.
The typical mine door includes two wings, which either swing inward or outward, depending upon the configuration. The strength, size, and functional machinery for proper function substantially increases in high-pressure environments. Thus, when either opening or closing, the pressure provides assistance. However, this standard design is hindered in the reverse operation, wherein not only the mass of the doors must be moved, but also the opposing the flow of air must be overcome to properly close the mine doors. As will be appreciated, such standard design is notably hindered in speed of operation as a result of the wings of the door both swinging either inward or outward, as well as negatively impacted by the air pressure, which only helps either open or close and hindering the opposite.
Accordingly, what is needed is a control system for a mine door to provide economical, safe, efficient, durable, and practical ventilation control for all types of track and trackless mines, including, e.g., coal, uranium, salt, gypsum, clay, gold, potash, titanium, copper, molybdenum, platinum, etc.